Superelevation of track

Train tracks are 'banked' through curves to reduce rail wear and to make travelling through the curve more comfortable for passengers. This is called superelevation.

The raising of the outer rail gives a train a twisting effect as it transitions into and out of curves, and this twisting can also be achieved on a model, by lifting the outer rail too. The trains look more realistic as they go through curves simply because they behave more like the real thing.

The European association of Modelrailroader and Railroad Friends have a standard (NEM 114) for the amount of superelevation that should be added at various scales and they suggest 1.5mm for HO scale. Personally, I find this too small and I prefer 2mm to see a more noticeable effect.

To give my tracks the tilt I wanted, I made a bunch of tiny wooden wedges that I could insert underneath the roadbed of the track.

In order to make such thin wedges, I placed the blade of my table saw slightly off vertical. I then pushed some pine lumber (2x4) through the blade. I then flipped the lumber over and made a second cut, producing a fine wedge. Every flip and cut produced another wedge.

Merkur ballast

For Märklin K-track I really like the ballast called Merkur Stryroplast.  This is a 5mm thick roadbed that is formed in the shape of the K-track pieces. This allows the K-track to be simply pressed into place. One may need to cut some of the ballast to fit surrounding areas, but that is done really easily with a work knife.

I have put this page together to show some of the aspects of working with the Merkur range.